You set up your security questions when you sign up (sometimes) and totally forget about them. Then, one day, you inevitably forget your password and find yourself robotically entering your place of birth, your dog's name, and your mom's birthday to get access to your account.
Facebook Security Question Hacking
Much like passwords, security questions are something that could, in theory, be very secure. But when you start putting people in the position of handling hundreds of accounts, keeping security questions, well, secure can become a daunting task.
Yes, breaches happen, and sometimes your security questions get stolen. But that doesn't make them inherently less secure than passwords, phone numbers, and your biometric data (which can be stolen), or SMS or other 2-factor authentication messages, which can be intercepted or go to a compromised account.
Breaches are a mark against security questions, but they're also a threat to many other forms of authentication. At best, security questions are no more hackable than passwords, at worst they're both vulnerable.
Searchable answers: if the information is on your LinkedIn, your Facebook, or Twitter feed or other social media platform, it's not a good answer to a security question. Some of these, like hometown, are generally available and obvious. But things like favorite team or athlete, where you met your spouse (alma mater, hometown, etc.), and favorite vacation spot can be just as easily guessed from a quick scroll through your profile.
If you read the above and thought there's no way I'll be able to remember all of that! then you're not alone. Most people couldn't remember a completely unique set of security question answers to every single account they have.
At the end of the day, security questions have their up and downsides, like every other security measure. No technology is going to promise perfect safety for anyone, but we can mitigate the risk of being hacked by taking practical measures to protect ourselves.
If you're taking security questions seriously, make them unique and don't reuse them. Reset them if you think your account may have been compromised. And whatever you do, just stop using your mother's maiden name, ok?
To avoid this, Facebook requires users to add an extra security layer to their account, which involves setting up a security question. A security question is a list of questions to select and set an answer to. Therefore, when you need to recover your account, Facebook will prompt you with the security question you selected and require you to give the answer you choose during setup.
Facebook has these questions that are supposed to be fun for everyone to get to know each other. One thing that can lead to it though is getting information within the answers to be able to answer security questions. Answering about your first dog, where you were born, or anything with personal information will lead to figuring out security questions for bank accounts, credit card information, and even billing information! They seem to be fun when you first answer them, but when the wrong person gets their hands on that kind of information, it can lead to more severe accounts that can be compromised and information being stolen.
Everyone knows that most of the websites prompt their users to select a security question so that in case you forget your password, you can easily reset it. However, when it comes to Facebook, things can become worse if you have set your security question.
"Those aren't questions for a government security application so no one says you have to tell the truth," Forno said. "The teller, the bank, the customer service representative on the phone or the other computer, they don't care what the answer is as long as whatever I tell them matches what they have in their system so that right there makes it more difficult for bad guy to guess that my favorite car is Chewbacca. They probably aren't going to guess that."
The notion of using robust, random passwords has become all but mainstream---by now anyone with an inkling of security sense knows that "password1" and "1234567" aren't doing them any favors. But even as password security improves, there's something even more problematic that underlies them: security questions.
It claims to be a free genealogical data base that conveniently provides the addresses of ALL the places a person has lived. Those questions are often used as security questions for financial entities that have access to credit reports.
Many websites and apps ask security questions when you register for the first time. Then they use the answers you provide to verify your identity whenever you request to change a lost password. But cyberattackers often find ways around security questions.
Hackers often use this technique to exploit less security-savvy individuals. Of course, once they get the required information, it becomes easy to bypass security questions and gain unrestricted control of the target's account.
While security questions are supposed to be private and known only to you, you've probably left a lot of clues to their answers all over the internet. A hacker can easily decipher answers to your security questions if you often leave sensitive information about yourself on your social media profiles.
Although hackers typically use brute-force attacks to crack passwords, there's little to stop them from doing the same with security questions. While manual brute-forcing takes time and patience to achieve, modern brute-forcing algorithms simplify the process.
Moreover, while cracking security questions, a cyberattacker only needs to focus on word combinations rather than character manipulation as done with passwords. This makes security questions less arduous to crack since it's easy to make meaningful entries by combining different words.
While hackers can bypass two-factor authentication, it's often more technical to crack than security questions. Moreover, combining it with security questions further strengthens your account. Such a security protocol merger leaves an attacker with trickier puzzles to solve. In such cases, they tend to give up before long.
Personal information on your social media and other online profiles can give clues to your security answers. It's often best to remove such salient details from your profiles to check a security question breach. Ultimately, what good comes from answering the joke round-robins on Facebook, Twitter, and the ilk?
Like two-factor authentication, security questions add another layer of protection to your profiles online. Some services require security questions before they provide a password reset link. And for some, they do so after you've reset your password. All these aim to secure your accounts further.
Whatever the case, second layer shields like security questions are what hackers often face while trying to access your account. Besides, how we use the internet influences the power of security questions.
If you answer three times wrongly for the security question, it will bring you to the recover the account with friends page. So if you select any trusted friends, the security code will be send to the friends. By getting all security codes, you can gain access to the account. The main drawback is that hackers can be a friend. He can select 3 trusted friends as his fake profile. Now your account will be hacked.
The answers to these questions could provide a vast amount of information from which a hacker could derive or guess the answers to security questions. If a certain name pops up frequently, chances are the name might be included in passwords or the answers to security questions. Other questions can reveal favorite colors, favorite bands, important dates, and even the schedules and habits of targets (when they are home, when they are on the internet, when they go to work, when the house is empty).
Instead of just relying on firewalls and assuming that they will always protect their businesses from cyber risk, executives need to start asking deeper questions about them. As with most areas of business, it's important to take a critical look at each solution that your organization relies on for security. So, let's break down a few questions that you and your team should be asking about firewall security to get a more accurate view into your network defense posture.
"NEVER put your real birthday in your Apple ID setup. Anyone with yr bday has path to hack u," he began. "If it's remotely possible the answer to your security question is online pick a different question or avoid using that feature."
See how many clues to those "knowledge-based authentication" questions your bank asks could be inferred from your Facebook page. (Example: Are you wearing a T-shirt with your high school mascot in a profile picture? Do you have a folder with pictures named "My dog Fido?" If so, remove them now.) One tip popular with security pros: Give fake answers to those questions, so even someone who knows your father's middle name couldn't hack in.
If you have a security questions associated with your email account, please change this too. And please make it unpredictable and niche! It is possible that this was how the hackers broke into your account in the first place. When Yahoo had 500 million accounts hacked in 2014, not only were the passwords stolen but the security questions too. If you have a security question associated with your account, make up a response that makes no sense. This is the perfect opportunity to tell a lie!
Why does it matter? All this data, whether lost in different data breaches or stolen piecemeal through phishing campaigns, can provide attackers with enough information to conduct identity theft, take out loans using your name, and potentially compromise online accounts that rely on security questions being answered correctly. In the wrong hands, this information can also prove to be a gold mine for advertisers lacking a moral backbone.
Unfortunately, in an age where many people don't think twice about over-sharing on social media, such passwords can be easy for hackers to crack. And while many websites now present security questions as an extra hurdle for hackers, too often the answers to those questions are readily available on social media profile as well. 2ff7e9595c
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